An in-name-only sequel to the cheerleading musical, this first has
to cope with the fact that we naturally think cheerleaders are stuck-up
bitches by presenting a heroine (Anne Judson-Yager) who comes to college
just as the dean (Kevin Cooney) is slashing the budgets for all other
activities so the spoiled cheerleading squad can 'go to the nationals'
and get a trophy which will encourage more alumni donations. Judson-Yager,
a natural talent, is co-opted by the squad queen bee/drill sergeant
(Bree Turner) as future head cheerleader but only if she dumps her geeky
friends - geeky, that is, in fantasy teen movie terms; one's a black
girl (Faune A. Chambers) who improvises routines rather than being a
cog in a display and the other is a campus DJ (Bryce Johnson) with a
scruffy beard. At mid-point, the heroine gets over being tempted by
the lifestyle and quits, then has the idea of forming a rival squad
with the disaffected and unfunded members of the ballet society and
the musical production troupe (amusing stereotypes - especially Felicia
Day as a ballerina who specialised in anguish), honing their skills
to cheer on the university's less-noted sportsmen - croquet players,
girls' softball, fencers.

This is quite funny, but the finale is cut-and-paste stuff: a contest
between the two squads, which the good guys win (apparently by favouring
even briefer outfits and performing to the DJ's scratch stuff - in just
as mechanised and choreofascist a manner as the baddies), humiliating
the nasties (who could hardly have expected to triumph since the contest
is settled by a popular vote with an electorate they've been mean to
for years). Directed by Damian Santostefano (Severed Ties).
KIM NEWMAN